Legal framework of the allowance for private benefit of lithium and potassium brines in the jurisdiction of the province of Jujuy, Argentina

Abstract

This contribution discusses the legal bases regulating, in the jurisdiction of the Province of Jujuy, private activities benefiting from those kinds of brines characterized by having lithium (Li) and potassium (K) in solution. These private benefiting activities are carried out by pumping Li and K brines from underground reservoirs. Applicable legal bodies are erected around the mineral nature of the substances as well as the water component of the medium that contains it.
In the territory of the Province of Jujuy, particular use management of this natural resources complies with the provisions of the Civil Code, Mining Code, Constitution and Water Code of the Province. Concessions of Li and K in water and mining issues are governed by the Article 2507° of the Argentinean Civil Code as an imperfect domain. The administrative system of the particular use of Li and K brines is unfolded in water concessions (Water Code of the Province of Jujuy) that involve areas up to 1000 ha and mining ones up to 100 ha (Argentinean Mining Code).
The matter of conflict, without Jujuy State legislative resolution, is a corollary of the question whether these brines, as water resource, belong or not to the public domain. If these poor physicochemical properties, in order to contribute to the use of collective utility, then the provisions of the Water Code are dismissed. Then, the resource becomes the private domain of the surface rights of land owner. Even if it was verified, the existences of the concept of private waters in the Water Code of the Province of Jujuy are called into de question. This is in absolute disregard vis-à-vis the guarantees afforded us by Argentinean Civil Code to dispose of this property of collective incidence.
The relevance of this study is based on the fact that legal strategies are founded on the resource management paradigm, so that governments support their own solutions offered to the everyday conflicts based on regulations. Governance of natural resources requires eloquent legal instruments for the purposes of administrative exercise that underlie the strategies of private enterprises, environmental policies and citizenship rights.